Author
Topic: FG and priming sugar (Read 2711 times)

Should you take FG before or after adding priming sugar to beer? The FG (~1.016) reading today while bottling was quite different than yesterday (~1.013). The beer has been in the fermentor for 2 weeks.

both temperature and residual dissolved co2 will skew the reading. for temp there are tables to consult. for the co2 you can pour the sample back and forth between two containers until it mostly stops foaming up and then take your reading.

If you're like me it's because you like sharing your brew with friends, and the ABV is one of the first questions they tend to ask about.

Also nonbrewers tend to expect you to know all the answers. But you don't, you're learning. "By you I mean you and me." After my first batch was done I had just followed a recipe and new none of the science behind how I made beer, they all bombarded me with questions and my only response was that I boiled a bunch of stuff and it turned into beer.

both temperature and residual dissolved co2 will skew the reading. for temp there are tables to consult. for the co2 you can pour the sample back and forth between two containers until it mostly stops foaming up and then take your reading.

If you're like me it's because you like sharing your brew with friends, and the ABV is one of the first questions they tend to ask about.

Also nonbrewers tend to expect you to know all the answers. But you don't, you're learning. "By you I mean you and me." After my first batch was done I had just followed a recipe and new none of the science behind how I made beer, they all bombarded me with questions and my only response was that I boiled a bunch of stuff and it turned into beer.

Before - or if you do it after make sure to subtract the effect of the sugar.

On the other hand, it isn't a really significant difference either way. 4 oz in 5 gal would add 0.0023 SG.

That's about what he measured, so the difference was probably due to measuring after adding the sugar. The standard 5oz that comes with kits is almost exactly 3 points in 5 gallons.

Of course, when you disregard the priming sugar, you're ignoring the extra alcohol produced. On the other hand, you also have to take into account the dilution when you boil the sugar in some water. The bottom line is, you're just making an estimate, so relax